Why don’t they sell this house?

[Anonymous]

Down the street from my parents is a house that sits vacant. The originals owners are dead, the house is in a trust. It’s been this way for nearly 25 years. A quick google search shows that they’ve spent more on taxes than the value of the house, and even more in insurance and upkeep. They’ll never recoup that money if and when they sell, so why hold on to it? The lawn and exterior have been kept up, but the insides haven’t been touched in over 25 years, likely more; another neighbor says it was original 1960s inside when the owner died and no work has been done since. Nobody can figure it out. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

Family squabble. Waiting for the next generation to die then it will be sold.

[Anonymous]

My BIL owns 3 empty houses in addition to the one he lives in. He can't let go of anything that has a memory attached to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family squabble. Waiting for the next generation to die then it will be sold.

If that’s the case, how petty! Arguing for decades to end up with nothing. What’s the point? Why not sell it and do something fun with the money? People are amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BIL owns 3 empty houses in addition to the one he lives in. He can't let go of anything that has a memory attached to it.

I thought maybe it could be this, but the neighbor who lives next door says the family hasn’t been around in nearly a decade, so it couldn’t be that important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family squabble. Waiting for the next generation to die then it will be sold.

If that’s the case, how petty! Arguing for decades to end up with nothing. What’s the point? Why not sell it and do something fun with the money? People are amazing.

my parents are like this. I am not even allowed to buy coffee bc I “need” to save every penny of my salary.

[Anonymous]

Why does it matter to you?

[Anonymous]

My elderly neighbor has kept her brothers house about 30 miles away untouched since he died in 1974!!!!!! I drove her there a few months ago to pick something up. It was WILD. Amazing time capsule. She just could not let it go. He died of cancer and her parents were already gone, no other family, not married, no kids. He had great taste and nice stuff. People do weird things to deal with grief. She said it helped her all these years to visit his house and his things. She has a gardener and cleaners once a month(!!!!). No judgment from me! But… Therapy would have been cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Down the street from my parents is a house that sits vacant. The originals owners are dead, the house is in a trust. It’s been this way for nearly 25 years. A quick google search shows that they’ve spent more on taxes than the value of the house, and even more in insurance and upkeep. They’ll never recoup that money if and when they sell, so why hold on to it? The lawn and exterior have been kept up, but the insides haven’t been touched in over 25 years, likely more; another neighbor says it was original 1960s inside when the owner died and no work has been done since. Nobody can figure it out. Any ideas?

Their daughter was murdered in that house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My elderly neighbor has kept her brothers house about 30 miles away untouched since he died in 1974!!!!!! I drove her there a few months ago to pick something up. It was WILD. Amazing time capsule. She just could not let it go. He died of cancer and her parents were already gone, no other family, not married, no kids. He had great taste and nice stuff. People do weird things to deal with grief. She said it helped her all these years to visit his house and his things. She has a gardener and cleaners once a month(!!!!). No judgment from me! But… Therapy would have been cheaper.

Not to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BIL owns 3 empty houses in addition to the one he lives in. He can't let go of anything that has a memory attached to it.

I thought maybe it could be this, but the neighbor who lives next door says the family hasn’t been around in nearly a decade, so it couldn’t be that important.

A decade is nothing to the emotionally attached. A college friend had a 4 bdrm 3 bath house left to her by an beloved aunt and uncle right on the golf course and it remained unoccupied and unvisited except for maintenance for 15 years until her DH retired and they needed to rent it to pay the taxes. First it had to be cleared of their possessions, which was difficult for my friend.

[Anonymous]

15 years ago, there was a house on the corner of where I used to live, and it had sat vacant and ran down for 20+ years because the family disagreed on a price to sell for. After I moved, it apparently got bought by a developer who demolished it and built condos.